Abstract: A system for bidirectional communication of digital data between a central unit and a remote unit wherein the need for tracking loops in the central unit has been eliminated. The central unit transmitter generates a master carrier and a master clock signal which are used to transmit downstream data to the remote units. The remote units recover the master carrier and master clock and synchronize local oscillators in each remote unit to these master carrier and master clock signals to generate reference carrier and clock signals for use by the remote unit receiver. These reference carrier and clock signals are also used by the remote unit transmitters to transmit upstream data to the central unit. The central unit receiver detects the phase difference between the reference carrier and clock signals from the remote units periodically and adjusts the phase of the master carrier and master clock signals for use by the central unit receiver to receive the upstream data.

Abstract: Method and apparatus to carry out wideband DOCSIS both upstream and downstream in a point-to-multipoint environment of an HFC system using port trunking concepts. For the downstream, each CMTS has a frame distributor which distributes frames to various transmitters transmitting on downstream channels to be used to transmit downstream data simultaneously to a CM using wideband DOCSIS. The frame distributor adds sequence numbers in some embodiments to guarantee proper order of frames can be restored at the CM, and schedules transmissions according to quality of service considerations to meet guaranteed and committed portions of constant bit rate and variable bit rate flows. The CMTS sends and Extended Channel Enable (ECE) message to wideband capable CMs telling them which downstreams to enable. Each CM has a frame collector to which all frames received on various downstream channels are sent. The frame collector makes sure they are all there, puts them into the proper order and delivers them to a NI.

Abstract: A system for bidirectional communication of digital data between a central unit and a remote unit wherein the need for tracking loops in the central unit has been eliminated. The central unit transmitter generates a master carrier and a master clock signal which are used to transmit downstream data to the remote units. The remote units recover the master carrier and master clock and synchronize local oscillators in each remote unit to these master carrier and master clock signals to generate reference carrier and clock signals for use by the remote unit receiver. These reference carrier and clock signals are also used by the remote unit transmitters to transmit upstream data to the central unit. The central unit receiver detects the phase difference between the reference carrier and clock signals from the remote units periodically and adjusts the phase of the master carrier and master clock signals for use by the central unit receiver to receive the upstream data.

Abstract: In accordance with the principles of the present invention, an audio-conference bridging system and method are provided. The present invention discards the traditional notion of a single mixing function for a conference. Instead, the novel, flexible design of the present invention provides a separate mixing function for each participant in the conference. This new architecture is described generally herein as “EdgePoint mixing.” EdgePoint mixing overcomes limitations of traditional conferencing systems by providing each participant control over his/her conference experience. EdgePoint mixing also allows, when desired, the simulation of a “real-life” conference by permitting each participant to receive a distinctly mixed audio signal from the conference depending on the speaker's “position” within a virtual conference world. The present invention also preferably accommodates participants of different qualities of service.

Abstract: A system for wireless remote control of a gateway and ordering or invocation of services provided by a headend. The remote control includes a video display and user input device or keyboard and can decompress and display compressed streaming video in some embodiments. Some species of the remote control can act as web browsers, appliance control, TIVO function control, an IP telephony telephone, a cellular telephone and/or an MP3 player. In some embodiments, the gateway and/or headend can implement TIVO-like functions under control from a wireless remote of custom design or implemented on a Personal Digital Assistant.

Abstract: A system for bidirectional communication of digital data between a central unit and a remote unit wherein the need for tracking loops in the central unit has been eliminated. The central unit transmitter generates a master carrier and a master clock signal which are used to transmit downstream data to the remote units. The remote units recover the master carrier and master clock and synchronize local oscillators in each remote unit to these master carrier and master clock signals to generate reference carrier and clock signals for use by the remote unit receiver. These reference carrier and clock signals are also used by the remote unit transmitters to transmit upstream data to the central unit. The central unit receiver detects the phase difference between the reference carrier and clock signals from the remote units periodically and adjusts the phase of the master carrier and master clock signals for use by the central unit receiver to receive the upstream data.

Abstract: A system for providing video-on-demand service, broadband internet access and other broadband services over T-carrier systems including a pull multiplexer cherrypicker at the head end is disclosed. The pull multiplexer receives upstream requests and cull out MPEG or other compressed video packets, IP packets and other data packet types to satisfy the requests or to send pushed programming downstream. The downstream can be DSL or HFC. Each customer has a cable modem, DSL modem or a gateway which interfaces multiple signal sources to a LAN to which settop decoders, digital phones, personal computers, digital FAX machines, video cameras, digital VCRs etc. can be attached. Each gateway can coupled the LAN to a DSL line or HFC through a cable modem or a satellite dish through a satellite transceiver. A PSTN and conventional TV antenna interface is also provided.

Abstract: A system for providing video-on-demand service, broadband internet access and other broadband services over T-carrier systems including a pull multiplexer cherrypicker at the head end is disclosed. The pull multiplexer receives upstream requests and cull out MPEG or other compressed video packets, IP packets and other data packet types to satisfy the requests or to send pushed programming downstream. The downstream can be DSL or HFC. Each customer has a cable modem, DSL modem or a gateway which interfaces multiple signal sources to a LAN to which settop decoders, digital phones, personal computers, digital FAX machines, video cameras, digital VCRs etc. can be attached. Each gateway can coupled the LAN to a DSL line or HFC through a cable modem or a satellite dish through a satellite transceiver. A PSTN and conventional TV antenna interface is also provided.

Abstract: An interleaver for any modem or transmitter which transmits digital data. The interleaver eliminates the iterative divide step of a first prior art method to calculate the final depth of each block and the divide followed by a multiply step of a second prior art method. This is done by calculating the minimum depth, i.e., number of rows, for each 2-D block of data using a divide step and retaining the remainder. The remainder is used to determine how many blocks get an extra row when the burst length and width of each row precludes all blocks from having the same number of rows.

Abstract: Memory may be partitioned into ever-sliding FIFOs. Each of the FIFOs may be stacked end-to-end in memory with the oldest data at the base offset and the newest at the end (or vice-virsa). Each symbol, the pointer may be incremented (modulo the set size) by an appropriate amount (typically J more than for the previous symbol). After each set, the pointers may be incremented by J more than the previous increment and the process starts over, wrapping around the memory if the end of the memory is reached. After a preset number of symbols, the process may restart from an increment of J. Alternatively, the pointers may be decremented rather than incremented. Thus, the newest symbol cannibalizes the memory position vacated by the oldest symbol in the current FIFO, causing the FIFOs to “slide”, providing for a very efficient and reliable use of memory for error-correcting code interleaving.

Abstract: An automatic teleconferencing control system uses a trigger definition database to define trigger criteria and corresponding conference control commands for corresponding trigger functions. Trigger criteria may relate to configuration profiles set for each participant or to conference level policy decisions. Participant attribute changes and media flows among participant stations on a conference are analyzed in accordance with the trigger criteria, and when trigger criteria are identified a corresponding conference control command is issued.

Abstract: Memory may be partitioned into,ever-sliding FIFOs. Each of the FIFOs may be stacked end-to-end in memory with the oldest data at the base offset and the newest at the end (or vice-versa). Each symbol, the pointer may be incremented (modulo the set size) by an appropriate amount (typically J more than for the previous symbol). After each set, the pointers may be incremented by J more than the previous increment and the process starts over, wrapping around the memory if the end of the memory is reached. After a preset number of symbols, the process may restart from an increment of J. Alternatively, the pointers may be decremented rather than incremented. Thus, the newest symbol cannibalizes the memory position vacated by the oldest symbol in the current FIFO, causing the FIFOs to “slide”, providing for a very efficient and reliable use of memory for error-correcting code interleaving.

Abstract: A multichannel, mixed mode cable modem termination system receiver capable of receiving multiple channels of digital data transmitted on one or more hybrid fiber coaxial cable systems, each the channels being either single mode or mixed-mode. Mixed mode channels are time division multiplexed and have overlapping bandwidth and each sub-channel of a mixed mode channel can have a different center frequency, symbol rate and/or multiplexing type. The receiver is comprised of a plurality of analog front end circuits coupled to the various HFC systems, each selective coupled to any one of a plurality of digital front end receivers. Control circuitry controls these circuits to receive multiple mixed-mode or single mode channels, simultaneously if necessary. An arbiter decides which bursts get processed first in a back end shared demodulator which recovers the data from each burst.

Abstract: A system for providing video-on-demand service, broadband internet access and other broadband services over T-carrier systems including a pull multiplexer cherrypicker at the head end is disclosed. The pull multiplexer receives upstream requests and cull out MPEG or other compressed video packets, IP packets and other data packet types to satisfy the requests or to send pushed programming downstream. The downstream can be DSL or HFC. Each customer has a cable modem, DSL modem or a gateway which interfaces multiple signal sources to a LAN to which settop decoders, digital phones, personal computers, digital FAX machines, video cameras, digital VCRs etc. can be attached. Each gateway can coupled the LAN to a DSL line or HFC through a cable modem or a satellite dish through a satellite transceiver. A PSTN and conventional TV antenna interface is also provided.

Abstract: A system for bidirectional communication of digital data between a central unit and a remote unit wherein the need for tracking loops in the central unit has been eliminated. The central unit transmitter generates a master carrier and a master clock signal which are used to transmit downstream data to the remote units. The remote units recover the master carrier and master clock and synchronize local oscillators in each remote unit to these master carrier and master clock signals to generate reference carrier and clock signals for use by the remote unit receiver. These reference carrier and clock signals are also used by the remote unit transmitters to transmit upstream data to the central unit. The central unit receiver detects the phase difference between the reference carrier and clock signals from the remote units periodically and adjusts the phase of the master carrier and master clock signals for use by the central unit receiver to receive the upstream data.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for interleaving symbols from a one dimensional TDMA 802.14 or MCNS minislot or other TDMA stream into two dimensional arrays in code and time for transmission on a code division multiplexed digital data transmission system. There are two methods disclosed. The first calculates i and j values for storage in RAM as a function of the symbol index in the TDMA stream, the number of codes to be employed, the column space design parameter representing the number of columns in the array, i.e., symbol times, that could be adversely affected by burst noise, and a calculated total number of columns in the array. The result is an array in which no indices of two symbols within any column or between columns of the column space are closer together than a design parameter vertical distance.

Abstract: A method for allowing upstream channels having the same multiplexing type but different symbol rates or the same symbol rates but different multiplexing types to be transmitted on the same frequency band without interfering with each other. In particular, a method for allowing DOCSIS 1.0 TDMA only cable modems to coexist on a digital data delivery distributed system with advanced PHY TDMA or SCDMA mode cable modems without the need for modification of the DOCSIS 1.0 cable modems or the need for the DOCSIS 1.0 modems to transmit on a different frequency.

Abstract: A narrow band interference excision circuit for use in broadband digital data communication systems such as CDMA systems. The excision circuit is comprised of a matrix of polyphase filters that divide the input signal into a plurality of narrow subbands. Each narrow subband signal is examined to determine if narrowband interference exists in that bin. This is done preferably by computing the average power of the subband signal. If a signal in a bin has an average power greater than some adjustable or adaptive threshold, then the entire subband signal is eliminated. A bank of polyphase synthesis filters reassembles the composite signal. An equalization circuit with an error predictor comprised of an adaptive FIR filter is coupled to adapt coefficients of the filter and generate a colored noise cancellation signal to remove colored noise from the input to the slicer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for carrying out synchronous co-division multiple access (SCDMA) communication of multiple channels of digital data over a shared transmission media such as a cable television system coaxial cable, a fiber optic or copper conductor telephone link, terrestial microwave, satellite link, local or wide area network, wireless including cellur network or some combination of these media using suitable interface circuitry. The system includes modems at remote units and a central unit to receive time division multiplexed digital data arranged into timeslots or channels and uses orthogonal codes to encode each channel of multiple data and spread the energy of each channel data over a frame of data transmitted in the code domain. Spreading the data this way makes the system less susceptible to impulse noise.

Abstract: A bidirectional digital data communication system which generate phase coherent upstream clock and carrier signals from recovered downstream clock generated from a master clock in a central unit. The preferred species uses any downstream clock rate and generates a phase coherent upstream clock so long as the two clock rates can be related by the ratio M/N where M and N are integers. One embodiment uses an MCNS downstream and an SCDMA upstream and uses MNCN timestamp messages in the downstream to achieve an estimate of RU frame offset prior to establishing frame alignment using a ranging process. The use of timestamp messages to estimate the offset is aided by a low jitter method for inserting timestamp messages by avoiding straddling of MPEG packet headers with the sync message. Clock slip is detected by counting upstream clock cycles over a predetermined downstream clock interval and the RU transmitter is shut down if slip is detected to prevent ISI interference from misaligned codes.